The number of business schools that embedded social responsibility topics and projects on MBA programs is increasing. The goal is to offer participants the opportunity to give back while learning responsible and impactful leadership.
Typically, MBA participants are taught to acquire knowledge and apply it, to travel and expand their horizons and think globally.
Nevertheless, the relevance of these skills, at Porto Business School, we are driven by this aspiration: everything we do has a purpose and an impact towards a long-lasting legacy.
Therefore, at Porto Business School, we support our students to deepen their skills of leadership, team effort, and team management inside the classroom, but we also encourage them to use those skills to serve our community.
In October, and to mark the beginning of Porto Business School’s MBA programs, we engaged the students into a team building initiative for social impact.
Where and why
Centro Juvenil de Campanhã’s mission is to foster the well-being and quality of life of the community, with a focus on supporting young boys in vulnerable situations. The Centre welcomes youngsters from the whole country, and currently, it is the house of forty young boys.
In addition, the Centre provides various social responses, from daycare, preschool, emergency unit, residential shelter, and temporary shelter.
So, given the context, our goal, as a big team of dedicated helpers, was to do our share to improve the house conditions of these young boys.
Setting up good house conditions, creating a welcoming and, above all, a safe environment is key for the emotional, social, and academic development of these children.
What this Day was all about
On a mild October morning, 130 Porto Business School’s MBA participants rolled up their sleeves and became painters, gardeners, and decorators for a day with one goal in mind: remodel these young boys’ house.
So, and to achieve a successful remodel, our MBA participants were organized in work teams and took different tasks, such as painting walls and ceilings, assembling furniture, painting some pictures, and gardening to renewal the outdoor space.
The end of the workday was celebrated with the symbolic gesture of planting a tree, marking the collaboration between the Porto Business School and Centro Juvenil de Campanhã.
The initiative sought to foster the required conditions for a lasting-positive change in this community, regarding housing and outdoor spaces, so these forty young boys enjoy a healthy and positive environment of growth and learning towards a happy and successful future.
As Patrícia Teixeira Lopes, Vice Dean at Porto Business School, emphasizes: “one of our main goals as a School is working not only on skills inside the classroom, but putting them at the service of our community” and adds “in this context, we also promoted the Sustainable Development Goals. And this is what we did at the Centre, we changed lives.”
By pushing the MBA participants into a different environment than usual, Porto Business School inspired them to overcome individual and group limits, deepening crucial skills such as teamwork, leadership, and project management. Meanwhile, it tightened their self-confidence and efficiency, providing a transformative experience outside the classroom, but also outside their comfort zone.
The MBA students want to deepen their leadership skills or expand their knowledge in finance, marketing, or entrepreneurship, but they are also eager to make an impact in their community.
The reality is todays’ MBA students sought to be people with a purpose, who desire to live their values also through their jobs and believe business can do well while doing some good. And, for Porto Business School’s community, this is what driving a positive change means.
Watch the video here.
